Puppetry
by Botulinum
Summary: Stumbling across Sasori's workshop while lost in Suna at a young age, Naruto will learn the secrets of puppetry.


Naruto was looking around in wonder as he walked through the gates into Suna. As this was his first time into another ninja village he was gaping at everything and everyone like a very surprised fish. After the Hokage's last trip out of the village the townsfolk had tried to use the opportunity to 'finish what the 4th started', it was only because of the effort of three ANBU that Naruto wasn't permanently harmed, This time Sarutobi had decided that he would take Naruto with him this time to stave off any more attacks, at least until a more permanent solution was found.

"Now Naruto, I'm going to be talking with the Kazekage for most of our time here, I'm going to trust you to stay out of trouble and not to act here like you would at home, nobody here will be as understanding of your pranks" Sarutobi gently admonished Naruto, "Okay Old Man! I'll be good!" Naruto seemed to pause for a second as a foxy grin spread across his face "If you give me that big hat of yours." The Hokage sighed and shook his head; Naruto had recently developed a slight obsession with the Hokage hat, seemingly trying everything to get it from ambushes to pleading. "I told you Naruto, this is the symbol of my power as the leader of Konohagakure, if you want this hat you'll have to become Hokage" Naruto grimaced, this was the answer he always got, even when he would try and steal it off the old man's head he was always caught and given a lecture on responsibility and how only the Hokage could wear it. He'd even spent a whole day going all around the village looking for a shop that sold a hat like that one but it seemed to be unique to the old man.

Naruto's face slowly morphed back into his signature foxy grin. "I'll get that hat someway, Old Man, Just you wait!" the Hokage chuckled; the will of fire truly does run strong in this one Sarutobi thought. "Okay, you start heading to our hotel, I've got to go let the Kazekage know we've arrived" He gave Naruto a quick rundown of where the hotel was before starting off in a different direction.

§OoOoOoOoOoO§

Naruto was running down the street enjoying how the hotter than normal wind felt on his face heading in what the Hokage said was the general direction of the hotel. His mind was occupied on how he was going to get the the hat when he reached the market district, wading into the crowd of people that were swarming all around the stalls trying to get this way and that. Even so, Naruto was slowly but surely struggling through the thick throng of people but without realizing it he had started heading in a direction roughly perpendicular to his original path.

When Naruto emerged from the crowded plaza he kept heading down the road in front of him. Sarutobi had said that the hotel would have a big flashy orange sign out front with a kunai on it to symbolize that it caters to ninja. As Naruto walked down the road he started to get worried, didn't the old man say it was nearby? He'd been walking for almost 20 minutes and looking around all he saw were warehouses and old decrepit buildings.

Walking down the street get slowly more and more worried. He knew he was somewhere that he probably wasn't supposed to be, if only because his hotel wasn't here. Still searching vainly for that big orange sign his eyes landed on a marginally better preserved building at the end of the street, it was on the edge of where the warehouses devolved into little more than piles of rubble. As Naruto walked closer he saw the door was hanging off its hinges, stepping to the door with the crunch of broken glass under his feet he slowly entered the building. There was enough natural light was flooding through the gaps where the windows used to be that he could see clearly. Walking across a big storage room he tripped on a loose floorboard, getting back up onto his feet nursing a knee that was probably bruised he saw that the floorboard had been knocked out of it perch a bit. Slowly he discovered that a big pane of floorboards came up revealing a tunnel leading steeply into the ground. Not sure if he wanted to continue but curiosity getting the best of him he started off down the tunnel.

Not too far in a door sat hanging on by a thread, Naruto walked closer and saw many seals on the door almost entirely rubbed away and made incompletely by time. Pushing the barely hanging on door out of the way a bit he edged his way into the room reluctantly. There were wooden desktop piled to the brim with what appeared to be human body parts made of wood, have formed bodies were strung up on the rafters like so many marinates, vials of different colored liquids where strewn across the room and on the back wall there were many, many scrolls.

**So how's that for a prologue, I know it's short but hey, it wasn't specifically meant to be long. The other chapters should be longer. I know this isn't a very original idea right now but I have some ideas that should really set this story apart from the rest. As for my inheritance story I'll have an explanation for the delay in the next chapter of that story. I'm in the process of finishing the rewrite for the first chapter and getting started on the second. See ya next time**

**-Botulinum**


End file.
